drugs

A trial court’s failure to give jury instructions that strictly adhered to the language contained in the Indiana Code
and Indiana Jury Rule was not grounds for the Indiana Court of Appeals to overturn a guilty verdict.

Calling attention to the rising number of overdose deaths in Indiana, Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced a new website
meant to help inform people about the risks and warnings signs of prescription drug abuse.

An Indianapolis man who faced multiple charges when he fled from and battled with police after a stop the state concedes was
illegal still may be prosecuted on evidence gained after he fled, two of three Court of Appeals judges ruled Tuesday.

A Fulton County man who filed a writ of habeas corpus claiming he was falsely imprisoned won a reversal of a clarified sentencing
order Tuesday, with one Court of Appeals judge saying he should be freed entirely.

No possibility of danger or smell of marijuana was evident, and that was enough to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals to
suppress evidence found during a police officer’s search of a motorist’s backpack.

In a matter of first impression, the Indiana Court of Appeals Wednesday decided that a police officer’s refusal to allow
a defendant to enter his or her residence without being accompanied by an officer until a search warrant has been obtained
is a reasonable seizure that does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an Indiana man’s convictions and 360-month sentence for drug-related offenses,
rejecting his claims that his right to a speedy trial was violated and the starting time of his offenses was incorrectly determined
by the District Court.

Finding that a man knowingly and voluntarily waived the right to appeal the appropriateness of his concurrent 34-year sentences
following a guilty plea to drug charges, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed his sentence.

The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed the denial of a defendant’s motion to suppress cocaine found on him after his car
was stopped by police on the belief the car’s window tint did not comply with Indiana statute. The justices found the
officer had reasonable suspicion that the tint was in violation of the Window Tint Statute.

A protective sweep and subsequent search of a house following the issuance of a search warrant were reasonable under the federal
and state constitutions, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled. The defendant argued that the scope of the sweep – which
led to the discovery of drugs and paraphernalia – was impermissibly broad.

Although a man’s incriminating statements made while sitting in a police car should have been suppressed, the Indiana
Court of Appeals ruled the error was harmless because the physical evidence seized was sufficient to sustain his convictions.

A man sentenced to 14 years in prison for his convictions on multiple felony gun and drug charges will still have to serve
the time, but the court must revise the sentencing order to explain why one conviction was ordered to be served consecutive
to the others.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals sent a man’s claim contesting forfeiture of nearly $200,000 found in his home during
a police search back to the District Court for reconsideration. The judges ruled that the ground for dismissal given by the
judge, as well as the alternative ground argued by the government, were “unsound.”

A defendant was unable to convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that despite his decision to flee the country for five
years before he was sentenced in a drug case, the government should have to stick to the terms of his original plea agreement.

Declaring “It’s time to end the war on marijuana,” the American Civil Liberties Union reported Tuesday that
black Americans were 3.7 times likelier than white Americans to be arrested for pot possession in 2010 despite similar rates
of use.

Although an Indiana man determined how much and how often his buyers received methamphetamine as well as pressured them to
sell, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded his sentence should not have been enhanced because his actions were not coercive.

The Indiana Court of Appeals held Thursday that a National Precursor Log Exchange report documenting the purchases of ephedrine
and pseudoephedrine by a defendant are allowed into evidence under the business record exception to the hearsay rule.